CENTENNIAL, Colo. – Key dates in the life of Colorado theater shooter James Holmes:
Dec. 13, 1987 — Holmes is born in San Diego County, California, to Robert and Arlene Holmes.
2006 — Graduates from Westview High School in San Diego.
2010 — Graduates from the University of California, Riverside, with a B.S. in neuroscience.
2011 — Holmes enrolls in the Ph.D. neuroscience program at the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus in the Denver suburb of Aurora.
October 2011 — Begins dating Gargi Datta, another first-year student in the program.
February 2012 — Holmes and Gargi Datta break off their relationship.
March 21, 2012 — Begins seeing university psychiatrist Lynne Fenton and tells her he is having homicidal thoughts.
May 10, 2012 — Orders tear gas canisters online. Over the next few weeks, he buys two handguns, a shotgun, an assault rifle, 6,295 rounds of ammunition and body armor.
June 10, 2012 — Files paperwork to withdraw from the neuroscience program but doesn't say why.
June 11, 2012 — Meets with Fenton for the last time.
July 20, 2012 — Holmes slips through a back door of the Century 16 theater in Aurora, where about 420 people are watching a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises," and opens fire. Ten people die at the scene, two die at hospitals, and 70 are wounded. Officers find Holmes leaning against his car behind the theater and arrest him without a struggle. Later, police find booby-trapped bombs and a Batman mask at Holmes' apartment. The bombs are defused.
July 23, 2012 — Holmes makes his first court appearance, his hair dyed orange-red, face unshaven, eyes appearing dazed.
Oct. 11, 2012 — Prosecutors finalize the charges against Holmes: 24 counts of murder and 140 counts of attempted murder, two counts for each person killed and two for each person injured. He's also charged with possession of explosives.
Nov. 15, 2012 — Holmes is taken to a hospital psychiatric ward and held for several days, sometimes in restraints.
March 27, 2013 — Holmes' attorneys say he's willing to plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. Prosecutors later reject the plea offer.
June 4, 2013 — The judge accepts Holmes' insanity plea and orders Holmes to undergo a mental evaluation.
July 10, 2013 — Holmes' lawyers acknowledge he was the shooter but say he was "in the throes of a psychotic episode."
Jan. 20, 2015 — Jury selection begins.
April 14, 2015 — Twelve jurors and 12 alternates are chosen to hear the case.
April 27, 2015 — Prosecutors and defense lawyers make their opening statements.
June 19, 2015 — Prosecution rests after testimony from survivors and accounts from psychiatrists who interviewed Holmes.
July 10, 2015 — Holmes' defense rests its case, which includes testimony from a psychiatrist who determined Holmes was legally insane at the time of the shootings.
July 16, 2015 — Jurors find Holmes guilty on 165 counts of murder, attempted murder and weapons charges.
Aug. 5, 2015 — Testimony in the trial's penalty phase ends.
Aug. 6, 2015 — Jurors begin deliberating Holmes' sentence.
Aug. 7, 2015 — Jurors reach a decision on whether Holmes should be sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty.
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